The Marauders' Beginning
by poor-albus-severus
Summary: So what exactly happened when James and Lily were in Hogwarts? Well, it's simple. They were friends. Sort of. Well, they didn't hate each other.
1. Chapter 1

James Potter was a proud boy, to say the least. Small and scrawny though he was, his loyalty rivaled that of a lion, he was almost brave to a fault, and his nobility was something that his mother said would one day get him killed. Not to mention the fact that he had the energy of a squirrel.

On this particular day, he had more energy than usual. His mother would have been worried had she not known what day it was. This particular day was the day James was finally going to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. This was a day he had been looking forward to since before he could remember. Now that the day was finally here, he couldn't sit still. While his mother found his excitement entertaining and endearing, his father was quickly losing patience.

"James, if you don't sit down, I'm not letting you on that bloody train." He threatened.

"But Dad! It's _Hogwarts_! You can't keep me from Hogwarts!" James said, bouncing on the balls of his feet," Besides, you don't want to be stuck with me for the rest of your life, do you?"

"It wouldn't be the rest of my life. It would be the rest of _your_ life because I probably wouldn't be able to deal with your moping around for more than a month."

"_Harold_." Mrs. Potter scolded halfheartedly.

"Only joking, love." Mr. Potter leaned down and muttered quiet enough for his son to hear," Kind of."

James grinned wickedly and grabbed his broom off the top of his trunk," I'm going to play quidditch until it's time to go."

"Good. Burn off some of that energy, will you?" Mr. Potter said loudly. James just grinned at him and ran out back.

(LILY POV)

"Have you got everything you need, dear?" Mrs. Evans fused over her eleven year old daughter, Lily.

"Yes, Mum."

"Are you sure?"

"We've gone over the list a _hundred_ times."

"Well, a hundred and one never hurt anyone." She said, reading through the list again. Sure enough, Lily had everything she needed.

"Okay. What time is it?" Mrs. Evans looked at her daughter.

"Almost nine thirty."

"We best get going. Get your shoes and jumper. I'll get Dad and Tuney."

By the time everyone else was ready to go, Lily had managed to haul her giant trunk all the way down to the door, earning herself a scolding from her father.

"You could have hurt yourself or-"

"Dad, I'm fine. I'm sure I'll have to haul it up to my room myself anyway."

He frowned," Don't you think they'll have lifts?"

"I dunno, Dad. I'll just have to see when I get there."

"And I'd assume that there would be someone there to help carry your things. Do you think they'd let me on the train to see you off?"

Lily rolled her eyes," Dad, I'll be fine. Relax a bit, yeah?"

He grumbled," All right."

"Come on, everyone. We don't want to be late." Mrs. Evans hurried them all. Mr. Evans grabbed Lily's trunk and carried it out to the car. It just barely fit in the trunk of the car. Excited, Mrs. Evans got in the car. Petunia, Lily's older sister, got in the car in a much less excited manner. Even her father was more excited than her.

So in general excitement, the family set off for King's Cross in London.

(JAMES POV)

His mother was sure that James was just feeding off the energy of the people around him. As they walked through the crowd of students and families, she was afraid she would actually _lose_ him. He was running so far ahead, all too eager to get on the train. When she and her husband finally caught up with him, she trapped him in a hug and kissed his messy black hair.

"You be good and study, alright? I don't want any letters hearing that you're failing because you have so much detention." She started.

"Is that possible?" James asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"James Potter, don't you dare."

"'M only joking, Mum. I won't fail. Can't promise to not get detention, but I won't fail."

"James!"

"Leave the boy alone, dear. He'll be fine." Mr. Potter clasped a hand on his son's shoulder," He's not going to fail because he wants on that quidditch team, yeah?"

"Yeah! I hope there's an opening on Gryffindor! I can't wait to be chaser!" James was bouncing on his heels again.

"Now, James, you might not get sorted into Gryffindor." His mother reminded him.

"I will be. I'd leave if I was in Slytherin. I mean, Ravenclaw isn't that bad. And I guess Hufflepuff isn't either. But I'm going to be in Gryffindor, just like you and Dad!"

"Of course you are." Mr. Potter ruffled his son's hair, making it even messier than before.

The train whistled shrilly.

"I better go." James said quickly.

His father helped him load his trunk onto the train. He said quick goodbyes to his parents and ran off to find a seat, absolutely thrilled that he was finally going to Hogwarts.

(LILY POV)

"Bye, Mum. Bye, Dad." Lily hugged each of her parents tight.

"Be safe, darling." Her father said.

"We'll see you at Christmas." Mrs. Evans added.

Lily smiled at them and turned to her sister," I'll miss you, Tuney."

But Petunia just snorted and turned her back.

Lily frowned," What?"

"Why would _you_ miss _me_?"

"Well- you're my sister. And my best friend."

Petunia crossed her arms and turned her back to Lily," Well, you're not mine. I don't care that you're leaving because...because...you're a freak, Lily!"

Lily gasped and felt the tears started to build up in her emerald green eyes," Tuney-"

"_Don't_ call me that." Petunia snapped.

"Petunia." Mr. Evans said in a soft voice. The way he said her name, though soft and caring, demanded respect.

But Petunia didn't apologize to her sister. She didn't even look at her.

"Tuney..." Lily trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

"Just go, Lily. Go to your _freak_ school. I don't care. _I'm_ going home and going to a _normal_ school with _normal_ people." Petunia said in a snobbish voice. Her long neck was stiff, and her pointed nose was stuck in the air.

Lily's head dropped forward. She closed her eyes and tried not to start crying. Mrs. Evans pulled her in a hug," It's alright, darling. You're not a freak. You're special. We're so proud of you."

Sniffling, Lily wiped her eyes," Thanks, Mum."

The train whistled.

"I'd better go. Bye, Mum. Bye, Dad...Bye, Tuney."

Lily swore that as she turned away and stepped on the train, she heard her sister say one more time," _Freak_."

Lily bit her lip and ran onto the train to find Severus.

(JAMES POV)

When James walked into the Great Hall for the first time, the first thing he looked at wasn't the enchanted ceiling the rest of the first years were looking at. It was the door leading to a chamber at the back of the room. It was just behind the table seating the professors. He nudged the black haired boy he'd met on the train. His name was Sirius Black.

"Where d'you reckon that leads to?" James pointed at the door.

Sirius looked from the ceiling to the door," I dunno. Probably just a chamber off the hall. Nothing interesting."

"I want to explore it."

"But we just got to school!" Peter Pettigrew, a rather small, chubby, mousy looking boy with watery blue eyes squeaked.

"So? Have you seen how big this castle is? I want to explore _all_ of it."

"There's no way. You've got classes every day." Another boy, Remus Lupin said.

"Only five days a week. We still have weekends. And I reckon we can squeeze in some exploring after classes as well." Sirius added.

"We?" James looked at him.

"Well, you don't think you're exploring the castle on your own, do you?"

James grinned," Think we'll be in the same house, then?"

"We're both Gryffindors at heart, yeah?" Sirius nudged his shoulder.

"Reckon so, mate."

"Quiet, if you please." Professor McGonagall, a tall, strict looking witch with black hair in a tight bun and a glare that looked more like razors than anything.

James and Sirius looked at her with matching innocent looks. She shot them a wary look before setting down a three legged stool and a rugged old hat. James didn't hear a thing when a split appeared at the brom of the hat and it started to sing. He was too fascinated by it to do much more than stare at it. And then McGonagall was talking. It took him a second to focus on her to hear what she was actually saying.

"-name, and you will sit on the chair. I will then place the hat on your head, and it will sort you into your house. You may then go and sit with your house." She explained.

James lost interest the second she started calling names and did not pay attention until he heard," Black, Sirius!"

Sirius calmly walked up to the stool and sat down. James could see to a side that the Slytherins were all looking at each other with smirks. Then-

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table clapped and cheered, but the Slytherins were staring at the young black haired boy in awestruck outrage. A pair of blondes stood up in anger. The girl looked particularly betrayed. Sirius took off the hat with a large grin and sprinted to the Gryffindor table. James was clapping just as loud as the rest of the Gryffindors, though he hadn't been sorted yet.

James kept glancing over at the Gryffindor table at Sirius while he waited his turn. He was so distracted that he didn't even notice the sorting going on until the redhaired girl he'd sat with on the train accidentally bumped into him when she moved forward to be sorted. He hadn't even heard her name.

James watched her sit down on the stool and disappear underneath the overlarge hat. She sat there for almost a full minute before the hat shouted out," GRYFFINDOR!"

Sirius and James clapped along with the rest of the Gryffindors.

"I thought you didn't know her?" Remus said.

"I don't. But she's in Gryffindor with me and Sirius."

"James, you haven't even been sorted yet."

"Doesn't matter. I'm going to be in Gryffindor."

Peter squeaked nervously," How do you know?"

"Because-" James started.

"He doesn't." Remus cut him off with a roll of the eyes.

A girl with curly brown hair in front of them turned around and shushed them severely. After she'd turned back around, James made a face at the back of her head, causing little Peter Pettigrew to stifle a laugh and Remus to sigh and roll his eyes again.

A few minutes later, Remus and the brown haired girl (Marlene) were sorted into Gryffindor. So was Mary McDonald, Alice King, Frank Longbottom, and little Peter Pettigrew. And then it was James's turn.

As soon as he was called, he ran up to the stool and sat down. The hat didn't even _touch_ his head. McGonagall started to lower it, but just above his head, it shouted out," GRYFFINDOR!"

Grinning like mad, he ran off to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Sirius.

(LILY POV)

Lily was almost disappointed that she was sorted into Gryffindor.

Almost.

She knew that Severus had wanted her to be in Slytherin. He had wanted them both to be in Slytherin. But the sorting hat had said that she had far too big a heart to be in Slytherin. Yes, she was clever and ambitious, but according to the hat, she belonged in Gryffindor.

_I wonder if he'll ask to be in Gryffindor too_, Lily thought as Potter, James was sorted into Gryffindor. She wasn't even sure that the hat had touched his head before he was sorted.

"Nice one, James!" The grey eyed boy across from her grinned when James reached the table. James sat down next to him with a large grin. Lily had been clapping with the rest of the table, but when he looked at her with those hazel eyes, she frowned. He was the arrogant boy from the train. The same boy that had _already_ started picking on Severus. When he looked at her, she stopped clapping and looked back at the sorting. She wasn't even paying attention to her classmates getting sorted. She was waiting for Severus to be sorted.

It was only two minutes later that he got called. He walked up to the stool slowly and sat down. The hat was on his head for no more than two seconds before it shouted out," SLYTHERIN!"

Her shoulders dropped, and her heart sank. Most of the reason she was so excited to come to Hogwarts was because that meant she got to hang around Severus without people judging her or making her feel bad about being around him. Now they were in different houses.

_I guess we can still hang out a lot. Just not as much as we would if we were in the same house_, she thought. After all, there wasn't a rule about talking to people in different houses as far as she knew. Why wouldn't you talk to someone in a different house? They all sounded great the way the sorting hat put it.

Gryffindors were brave and bold. Slytherins were clever and ambitious. Ravenclaws were wise and creative. Hufflepuffs are patient and hard-working. They all sounded great to Lily, and she would have honestly been happy in any of them. The hat had even considered her for all of them, especially Ravenclaw, but something obviously pushed her into Gryffindor instead.

"Good. Wouldn't want Snivellus in the same house as us." The grey eyed boy whispered to James.

"Yeah. He'd probably try and steal our shampoo." James smirked.

Lily's frown deepened at their comments and got even bigger when she saw them start a sword fight with forks under the table. They didn't pay attention to a thing that was happening, not even when Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, stood up to say a few words before the feast began.

Not wanting to pay attention to them anymore, Lily turned and focused on Dumbledore.

"-Filch to remind you that magic in corridors is strictly prohibited as well as a number of products from Zonko's. If you wish to know whether something is prohibited, a list is posted on the outside of Mr. Filch's office. I would also like to remind students that the Forbidden Forest, as it would have it, is forbidden to all students. Anyone caught in the forest will get detention and a number of points taken away as seen fit."

Dumbledore now stood a little started, scanning the crowd of students of his half moon glasses. In the fraction of a second that his electric blue eyes landed on Lily, she felt uneasy, like he was looking at her through an x-ray. But then he looked at the boys (who were still having their spoon sword fight) and continued to sweep the hall with his gaze.

"Many of you know what a dark wizard is rising to power. His name is Tom Riddle, but he is known now as Lord Voldemort."

The boys froze and looked up at Dumbledore with serious expressions on their faces.

"Voldemort is leading a group of people to do horrible things. As of today, he is gathering followers and working toward eliminating muggles and muggleborns alike."

Lily's heart stopped. Eliminating? She was muggleborn. And her family were muggles. What if Voldemort went after her family? What if she didn't find out until school was over? Where would she go? She was only eleven. She didn't have anywhere to go! Maybe she could live with her Uncle Owen until she was old enough to live on her own.

_But what about Sev?_ She thought. She glanced over at the Slytherin table where Severus was looking at her in worry. She shrugged at him hopelessly and looked at Dumbledore as he continued.

"But there is no need to worry. The castle is secure. While there is still a risk, there is no need to fear of your families deaths. The Ministry of Magic has employees working to keep everyone as safe as possible, including muggles. Tonight, we shall not worry about that. Let the feast begin."

Lily looked at the plates in front of her in shock. The platters that had previously been empty were now flooded with food. The boys across from her grinned and piled a bit of everything on their plates. Lily, on the other hand, wasn't hungry anymore. It didn't look like the girl next to her, Mary McDonald, was hungry either. Lily glanced at her.

"Are you muggleborn?"

Mary looked at her and nodded, blushing into her plate. She didn't say anything.

"Me too." Lily muttered.

Mary looked up at her," Really?"

"Yeah."

"I'm worried about my parents."

"So am I."

"Dumbledore said not to worry. Your families will be alright." A sandy haired boy said. Lily looked at him and remembered his name to be Remus Lupin.

"But how can they be safe if that Lord Whatever is out there killing off muggles?" Mary said miserably.

"Well, he said the ministry's taking care of it, yeah? They'll keep your families safe. Besides, he isn't going around killing hundreds of people a day. It's only every once in a while."

"Really? I was reading in the _Daily Prophet_ that there were four or five muggles found dead every day for the past two months." A small, chubby boy said.

Remus frowned, but it was Sirius that said," Shut it, Pete. Their families will be fine. Out of the thousands and thousands of people, you think he's gonna go after their families specifically?"

"Well, no, but-"

"That's that." James said. He looked at the girls," Your families are going to be fine. What are the odds that he's going to show up at their doorstep and just kill them?"

"Yes, but what were the odds that he would show up at all the _other_ muggles' houses?" Lily countered.

"The same as everyone else's. But the point is that the chance is very _very_ small." James explained.

"And yet all those people are already dead."

"You can't look at it like that. It's like saying the chances of me dying tomorrow are slim, but it's still a chance, so I should just stay in bed. If you live in fear, then you're not living a life worth living."

Lily looked at him in shock at his wisdom. She exchanged looks with Mary, who looked just as shocked as she felt.

(JAMES POV)

"Merlin, where did that come from?" Sirius asked.

James shrugged," My parents raised me to be brave and live life to the fullest."

"That explains a lot." Remus muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" James frowned.

"You can't sit still for your life. Even on the train you had to be doing _something_. If your parents raised you to live life to the fullest, then I'm willing to bet that you always have to be occupied." He paused and added," And it also means you're probably not going to do to well in classes if we're just listening to people talk all day."

His frown deepened," I hadn't thought about that. Do you think we're just going to be sitting and taking notes all day? I think I'll die if I have to do that."

Sirius nodded," I hear you, mate. If we're not doing magic, I'm throwing myself off the Astronomy Tower."

Remus rolled his eyes," And I imagine homework is going to be even worse than classes."

Sirius and James exchanged looks that showed they were _not_ at all excited about taking notes _or_ doing homework.

"Classes are all pretty interesting here, actually." An older student leaned over and told them. He had curly brown hair and muddy brown eyes.

"Yeah?" James said.

"Yeah. Well, except for History of Magic. Professor Binns- he's a ghost, but that's the only thing interesting about him. He just goes on and on about wars, and somehow he manages to make it all sound so boring."

"How is war boring?" Sirius asked.

"You'll see when classes start. Honestly, half the class is asleep in five minutes. My year was with Ravenclaw when we had History of Magic, and even _they_ were falling asleep."

Sirius and James looked at him in horror," No."

"Yes."

The group of first years questioned the boy for most of dinner. As it turned out, he was the fifth year prefect that was to show them to the dormitories. His name was Cameron Wood. After dinner and dessert disappeared, Cameron led them all to the Gryffindor Tower, shifting from talking about class to talking about the easiest ways to get to classes. They were also joined by the other prefect, Jane Jensen. She had pale blonde hair, obsidian black eyes, and a permanent scowl on her face.

"Okay. Here we are. Boys on the left, girls on the right. This is the common room, so you can just do homework or sit in here and do whatever. As long as it's not illegal. Don't want Mcgonagall in here and yelling at the whole house because we tried to raise a dragon in the fireplace or something."

James and Sirius grinned at each other. Seeing their grins, Lily and Remus frowned. Cameron raised an eyebrow," Don't even think about it, you two. Where would you even get a dragon?"

"I'm sure there's a bloke in Knockturn Alley that would sell us one." Sirius said.

"What are you doing in Knockturn Alley?"

"You heard my name, right? I come from the _noble house of Black_." Sirius said with a disgusted sneer.

"I don't care if you're descended from Salazar Slytherin himself. You're in Gryffindor. Represent the house, yeah? Knockturn Alley's dodgy, you're eleven, and you shouldn't be mixing in with Dark Magic as it is. I don't care if you're a Black, a white, a purple, or whatever color."

The younger boys burst out laughing. Sirius nodded," You're alright, mate."

"You're not so bad yourself, Black. Now you lot best get to bed. Classes start first thing."

The group of first years nodded and went up to their rooms. James was the first in the boys' dormitory. There were five beds, each with a trunk at the end. James found his to be right in the middle with Sirius on his left and the other Gryffindor boy, Frank Longbottom, on his right.

"Some day, huh?" Frank said awkwardly. He hadn't said much since he left his mother on the platform. On the train, he had been sitting with a bunch of other first years, but they had all been talking, and Frank had had his nose shoved in a book the entire time, too nervous to say anything. Even at dinner, he'd been to nervous to talk.

James looked at him with a kind smile," Yeah, it was."

Nervous, Frank started rifling through his trunk in search of his night clothes.

James walked over to him and held out his hand," James Potter."

Frank looked up and hesitantly shook James's hand," Frank Longbottom."

"Nice to meet you."

"You too."

"That there's Sirius, Remus, and Peter." He pointed at each of his friends. Frank nodded at each other them. Only Peter didn't return the gesture. He was too busy looking for his pants to notice anything.

Without much more conversation, the boys changed into their night clothes and went to bed.

(LILY POV)

Lily was more than ready to go to bed. She trudged upstairs with the rest of the new Gryffindor girls. There were seven four poster beds in the room, each with a trunk at the end of the bed. Lily exchanged looks with Mary and went to find her trunk. She had been worried because everyone had left their stuff on the train.

She found her trunk right next to the door. Next to her was Alice King. Across from her was a blonde girl called Kathleen Anthony.

Mary and Lily had been the only ones to talk with the prefect during dinner. The others had been making friends with each other. One girl- Marlene Underwood- had turned herself into something of an enemy. At least with the other three girls. She hadn't said anything to offend Lily or Mary. But apparently she had belittled _someone's_ family, and that just got into some argument about blood status. So Marlene was being shunned by half of the girls- two of whose names she didn't know yet.

Marlene trudge to the end of Lily's row, not looking at anyone. At first, Lily thought it was because she was sad that she had upset three girls already, but when Lily looked a little closer, she realized that Marlene was grumbled under her breath with a scowl.

_What?_ Lily thought to herself. She'd never seen someone trudge so sadly and actually be angry. That was a new thing for her.

None of the girls said anything as they changed and went to bed. In fact, none of them made a noise until the next morning after they'd all gotten dressed and gone down to the common room. They ran into all of the first year boys down there, and the two girls Lily couldn't name starting giggling. Lily frowned and exchanged bewildered looks with Mary.

James turned at the sound of the girls' giggles and smirked," Hello, girls."

"Hi." The black haired girl said.

"James Potter." He stuck his hand out with confidence.

"Tiny Queens." She giggled, sticking out a dainty hand and shaking his hand.

"Pleased to meet you." He leaned forward and kissed her hand with a smirk.

"I'm Bethany Reynolds." The blonde girl said, smiling at Sirius.

Sirius put on a charming smile the rivaled James' smirk," Sirius Black."

"Want to walk to breakfast together?" Tiny asked.

"We were going to get to know our mates a bit more since we didn't really have time last night, but you can join us if you like." James said.

"Oh, you're all mates?" Tiny glanced over the other three boys, unimpressed.

James almost looked offended," Well, aren't you friends with your dorm mates?"

"Of _course_. We were just- you know- wondering..."

"Then we can all sit together."

Tiny did not look happy about that, and Lily knew that it was because of Marlene when she shot her a look. Marlene scoffed and rolled her eyes, turning her head away from the exchange.

Lily nudged Marlene," Want to sit with me and Mary?"

Marlene looked at her cautiously," You don't hate me too for thinking blood status is stupid?"

"Well, I'd think Mary and I are a little biased seeing as we're both muggleborn."

"Yeah?"

She and Mary nodded.

"Oh. Well, at least you don't hate me."

"Don't have any reason to." Lily shrugged.

Mary pointed at the rest of the first years that were now leaving," We're not going to sit with them, are we? I don't think I can handle it."

"Nor do I." Marlene nodded. The two girls looked at Lily.

"I'm all for not sitting near that James Potter. He's kind of arrogant, don't you think?"

So the three girls walked down to breakfast, not once getting lost.

_Maybe_, Lily thought, _it won't be so bad after all_.


	2. Chapter 2

2nd year

JAMES POV

"I don't think his mum is really sick."

"What?"

"Remus. He's been gone every month to see his mum. I don't think she's really sick."

"Why not?"

"I dunno. He looks like _he's_ the sick one."

James paused to think about it," Yeah, you're right. I mean, he always looks worse after he gets back, doesn't he?"

Sirius nodded, but Peter leaned over his toast to say," Don't you think that could just be from him being worried about her?"

"Well, yeah, but why would he go home every month? Even if his mum _is_ sick, he wouldn't go home every month to see her." Sirius said.

"He's only gone home two times."

"Still."

"You're just saying that because you don't like your family." Peter frowned. Sirius scowled at him.

"No, he has a point. I wouldn't even go home to see my mum that often if she was sick. I would only go if I thought she was about to die so that I could see her one more time." James reasoned.

"Exactly!" Sirius crossed his arms.

"Well, he could be closer to her. Or she could be getting really weak and be almost dying." Peter argued.

"Every month?"

"Yes!"

"You two can argue about this all you want. I'm going to go see if anyone's using the pitch." James got up and went to his dormitory. Sirius _did_ have a point, but he didn't want to dismiss Peter's argument either. They both made a lot of sense to James. Maybe he could just ask Remus when he got back in a few days.

No one was on the pitch from what James could see from his dormitory. He grabbed his broom and hurried outside. The weather was just starting to cool down. The school grounds were bathed in colors of red and orange. James loved autumn. He would never admit it out loud, but he thought it was the most beautiful of the seasons. Even though he couldn't play quidditch and all the plants were essentially dying for the next four months, he loved how the weather cooled and brought people together. He loved the smell of the wind, the way the wind messed up his permanently messy hair, the new foods that were brought with winter.

It also helped that autumn meant winter was soon, and Christmas was in winter.

The quidditch pitch was still empty when he got out to the pitch, which he thought was strange. The first game of the year was in a few weeks between Gryffindor and Slytherin. James was sure one of the teams would be out practicing this morning. It wasn't early, and the weather was perfect for playing conditions. If he was captain, he wouldn't be wasting a perfect day like this.

James flew around the pitch a few times and practiced a few flying maneuvers before picking up the quaffle he had brought with and went to practicing with that. He was out there for almost half an hour when a team finally come out on the pitch. It was the Ravenclaw team. The captain- Richards- demanded to know what he was doing on the pitch during _their_ practice time, and James simply said that he was practicing until someone came out and told him that he couldn't.

Richards drew himself up, obviously not wanting to come off too pompous when he said," Well, we're here now. You can go."

James glared at him coldly and glanced at the rest of the team. They all had Shooting Star brooms.

"Is that the best broom you've got?"

"What?" Richards snapped.

"Your brooms. Have you only got Shooting Stars?"

"It doesn't matter." Richards ground his teeth.

"No, I suppose it doesn't if you know how to fly properly. Alright. I'll just be going. Have a nice practice. Good Luck against Hufflepuff in a few months."

James left with a pleasant, albeit forced smile. Richards and the rest of his team looked at James with a mix of anger, confusion, and nervousness.

Ten minutes later, James was putting his broom back in his trunk when the door flew open and Frank tumbled in looking very rumpled.

"What happened to you, mate?" James asked.

"What? Oh. N-Nothing."

"Your hair's all messed up. And you robes are on backwards. I'm pretty sure you didn't leave like that this morning. So what happened?"

"Nothing. Just some fourth years-"

"Gryffindors?"

"Yeah but-"

James was already out the door.

"James!" Frank shouted and scurried after him, trying to correct his wardrobe malfunction.

James stomped downstairs and looked around for the fourth years. He spotted a group of smirking boys in the corner of the room. This group burst out laughing when Frank fell into the common room. Literally fell. He'd stepped on his own robes in his rush to stop James.

The laughter only fueled James' anger. He ground his teeth and stomped up to the group of boys, pointing at Frank," Did you do that?"

"What's it to you, firstie?" One boy sneered.

"Did you do it?"

"Maybe I did and maybe I didn't."

James narrowed his eyes," Leave him alone, yeah? He didn't do anything to you."

"And what are _you_ going to do about it? You haven't even learned how to levitate anything yet."

Although James didn't want to admit it, he was right. They hadn't used any magic in any of his classes yet. They weren't practicing for another week.

"You don't want to know what I'll do." James growled.

"Whatcha going to do? Bite me?" He laughed. His friends laughed along with him.

James, who had steadily been turning red, lunged forward and punched the boy in the nose. While the boy was recovering from the pain in the nose, his two friends pulled out their wands. With his fast reflexes, James punched another in the throat, making his drop his wand and cough. The other friend managed to send a leg lock curse at him. James fell over, not being able to use his legs. The first boy got up with a nasty grin and sent a curse at James. Angry purple boils sprung up all over James' body. His entire body was screaming in pain, but he forced himself to stand in his locked legs. He swung his arm to punch the guy again, but someone hit him over the head with a hard book, and he blacked out.

LILY POV

"Did you hear what happened to James?" Marlene said, sitting down across from Lily in the library.

"No." Lily said, not looking up from her charms homework.

"He's in the hospital wing."

Hearing that, Lily looked up," Why?"

"Apparently, some guys were picking on Frank, and James decided to fight them. _Physically fight them_."

Lily furrowed his eyebrows," Why would he think that fighting is a good idea?"

"I dunno considering we only know magic theories right now."

"He doesn't have _any_ brains, does he?"

"But he was defending his friend. He punch one of them in the nose and another in the throat. Then the got him with a couple curses and knocked him out with a copy of _Hogwarts, A History_."

"How do you know about this?"

It was happening while I was getting my Transfiguration book. I just got to the common room when James came out of his dormitory. Let me tell you, he looked _really_ angry."

"Well, I'm glad he was defending Frank. Too bad he's in the hospital wing."

"You're not going to ask if he's okay?"

"Mar, if he wasn't okay, you would have dragged me down to the hospital wing by now. Potter's probably fine."

"He's going to have a bad headache when he wakes up."

"Yeah. I'm glad I'm not him."

Marlene rolled her eyes and sat down to do her homework. They were joined a minute later by Alice and Mary. Alice had found their small group better than Tiny, Bethany, and Katy's. Marlene relayed the news to the two new girls and got a more satisfying response from them.

"Is Frank okay?" Alice asked.

Marlene raised an eyebrow and smirked," Frank's fine. He was walking down to the hospital wing behind the two guys that carried James."

"Oh. That's good." Alice quickly looked down at the blank parchment in front of her.

"Why are you so concerned for Frank, Alice?" Marlene leaned forward. Lily's eyes flickered up for a second before she focused on her Charms homework again. She already knew the answer, and Alice wasn't going to give the truthful one anyway.

"He's my friend. I can be concerned for him if I want." Alice said.

"But you didn't ask if James was okay."

"_Please_. You would have taken us to the hospital wing already if James wasn't okay." Alice rolled her eyes.

"Told you." Lily muttered, not looking up.

"Fine. Whatever." Marlene threw her quill on her book," I hate Transfiguration."

"We should go visit James. I'm sure his friends will be there, but I still think it'll be nice for him to have friends there when he wakes up. Do you think Sirius and Peter know James is in the hospital wing?" Mary asked.

"I don't-"

"He's what?" A few voices screeched. The girls swiveled around and saw Katy, Tiny, and Bethany looking at the rest of the girls in pale horror.

Madam Pince, the strict librarian, appeared from behind a bookshelf and started reprimanding them for proper voice levels in a library. Quite hypocritically, Lily noticed. Madam Pince was shouting almost as loud as the girls had been. Once she swooped back into the depths of the library, the girls swarmed their dorm mates.

"What about James?" Tiny asked frantically.

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know." Marlene snapped, grabbing her quill again.

"_Listen_, Underwood. James Potter is _my_ future husband. I _need_ to know what's happened to him."

Lily frowned at Tiny," You're eleven. You can't possible know that he's your future husband."

"Like he would fall for the likes of _you_. You're muggleborn. He's pureblood. You two just wouldn't work."

"I'll have you know-" Lily started, standing up. She leaned forward on her hands, about to give her a lashing out that would put Madam Pince to shame, but Marlene stood up, knocking Tiny away from the table in the process.

"Purebloods and muggleborns are no different. Magic is magic. It only matters how you use it."

Tiny rolled her eyes," Spoken like a true half-blood."

"Better than you. All you think of is blood status."

"Blood status is important."

"It is _not_. Bloody hell. If it were, do you think there would be any mixing of purebloods and muggleborns in the school? Do you even think that muggleborns would be allowed in the school? Blood status is not way to tell if someone is a good witch or wizard. It's all on how talented and practiced you are." Marlene all but shouted.

Tiny looked over at the stacks of books, waiting for Madam Pince to come out and chastise her too. But the librarian just lurked next to a bookshelf, pretending the girls weren't talking at all. Tiny's face turned pink in outrage," Madam Pince! She's shouting in the library!"

"Shh!" Madam Pince shot her a severe look.

"But-"

"_Quiet_. This is a library!"

"But they were shouting!"

"I heard nothing. But you obviously do not know the value of _quiet in the library_. _Out_."

"_What_? But-"

"OUT."

Madam Pince chased Tiny and her two friends out of the library. When she walked past the remaining girls, she paused at their table, looking at the severely over her glasses," In fact, I _did_ hear you shouting, but I'm letting it slide this time. I believe you are right. Blood status does not matter in anything. Ability in magic only comes from practice and experience."

"Thank you, Madam Pince. I'm sorry I shouted. I won't do it again." Marlene said with what could pass as a genuine promise. Lily had only known her two months, and she knew better. Marlene only apologized when it was really important. She wouldn't mean it if it was something as mundane as shouting in a library, no matter who the librarian was.

"See to it that you don't. Or you'll all be banned from the library." Madam Pince stood up more rigid than usual.

"Of course. I think we should go anyway. We don't want to disturb the peace anymore." Lily said sweetly.

"Right. And we should visit James. Make sure he's alright and everything." Mary nodded. Alice stood up with them.

Madam Pince just gave them a stiff nod and went back to the stacks of books.

The four girls quickly packed up their things and left the library. Lily wasn't happy to leave the library and there was no way they would run into more trouble there, but Mary was right. They should make sure James was okay. He _was_ their friend after all. Sort of. And she didn't know if Sirius and Peter knew yet. Remus definitely didn't. He was visiting his sick mother again.

"Do you think they'll be at the hospital wing?" Alice asked.

"Who?" Mary looked at her in confusion.

"Katy and Beth and Tiny."

"Oh."

Marlene shook her head," Tiny probably got so upset that she forgot her _dear sweet Jamie_ was in the hospital wing."

Lily snorted," James. Dear and sweet. That's a good one."

"I don't know why you don't like him." Mary said.

"It's not that I don't like him. He's okay. It's just that...well, he's full of himself, isn't he?"

"A bit, yeah." Mary allowed.

"More than _a bit_. James Potter has the biggest ego in the school."

"Have you met Sirius Black?" Marlene said.

"I'd say they're even on that front. I can't stand either of them."

"But you can't deny they're good friends. They stand up for each other." Alice piped in.

"Yeah, I suppose there's that." Lily nodded.

They changed the subject to the Transfiguration homework Marlene had yet to start. That's what they were talking about when they got to the hospital wing. Alice led them through the large doors and hurried toward Frank, who was sitting in a chair next to a bed halfway down the right row. The rest of the girls followed at a slower pace.

"Are you okay?" Alice blurted.

"Me? I'm fine."

"Marlene said some older boys were bothering you earlier, and that's why James got into the fight..."

"Yeah, but I'm fine. I think James just overreacted, honestly."

"How _is_ James doing?"

"He's fine. Healer Palms got rid of the boils and took off the leg lock curse. Whenever James wakes up, he's going to have a massive headache though. They hit him really hard with that book."

"Poor James."

"Do Sirius and Peter know?" Lily asked.

"I haven't told them. I don't think they know yet."

"I'll tell them. Do you know where they are?"

"Dunno. Maybe down my the lake?"

"Want me to come with you?" Mary offered.

"No, it's fine. If I don't find them, I'll probably just stay out there and finish my Charms essay."

Frank frowned," I thought that wasn't due until Wednesday."

"It's not, but I'd rather get it out of the way. Besides, I still have the Potions essay and Herbology essay to do. Not to mention the Astronomy charts and all those questions McGonagall gave us to answer." Lily sighed.

"Right. I forgot about Astronomy." Frank deflated.

"I haven't done it yet. Maybe we can work on it tomorrow." Alice offered.

Frank smiled at her," Really? That would great, Alice!"

"We can start it at breakfast if you like."

"Sure. I'm usually up by nine. Want to meet then?"

Alice nodded.

"I'm going to find Peter and Sirius. See you guys later." Lily waved at her friends and started towards the Great Hall. Better check there before going outside, right? It was on the way at least, and those boys could eat more than she thought possible. But they weren't there when she checked. So she went out onto the grounds and found them walking back up to the castle.

"Evans." Sirius smirked.

"Black. Your other half is in the hospital wing. I think he'll want you to be there holding his hand when he wakes up." Lily said.

"James is in the hospital wing? Why?" Sirius said in shock.

"Some older students were messing with Frank, and James decided punching them in the face was the answer. Long story short, he got cursed and knocked out with _Hogwarts, A History_."

"Who was messing with Frank? A flobberworm would do more damage than him."

"I don't know. I wasn't there. Marlene told me about it. Why don't you go talk to her. She's in the hospital wing with everyone else."

"Right. Let's go then."

"I'm not going with you."

"You're not?"

"No. I have a ton of homework to finish."

"That's what Sundays are for."

Lily rolled her eyes," Goodbye, Black."

"See you around, Evans."

Lily sat down under a tree by the lake. There wasn't anyone else around, so she was able to concentrate on the essay in front of her. She had just finished it and started her Herbology when someone sat down next to her.

"Hello, Lily."

Lily's head snapped up, and a smile spread across her face," Hi, Sev!"

"Haven't seen you around lately."

"I know. Sorry. It's just- there's so much homework, and I just want to get it finished."

"Is that why you're out here all on your own?"

"Yes, well, a few things happened. I _was_ in the library, but then bloody _James Potter_ had to go and be _noble_."

Severus snorted," He doesn't know what nobility is. He's just looking to be the center of attention."

"He's in the hospital wing for standing up from someone." Lily almost frowned. Almost.

"He probably just did that to make himself look good."

Lily didn't say anything. She wasn't particularly fond of James Potter, but Severus seemed to thoroughly _loathe_ him.

"Do you want to work on the Potions essay?" Lily changed the subject.

"Sure."

JAMES POV

James stood in line, and he couldn't sit still. He was too excited. It was only his second year in Hogwarts, and already two Chaser positions on the quidditch team had opened up. He was _going_ to make the team. He would do it if it killed him.

"Okay, since there are so many of you, I'm splitting you into three groups of five." The captain- Anderson- said loudly. He counted off the first five and sent them to the far end of the pitch to practice passing the quaffle. The next five he sent to the middle to do the same. James was in this group with a third year girl, one of the boys James had fought with, and two seventh years that almost looked bored.

The group got into the air and started passing. James was pleased to see that the boy he had fought with had too loose of a grip on the quaffle and couldn't catch it properly. He couldn't throw it properly either. It made for difficult catches, mostly to James. James didn't miss one pass though. He caught the quaffle with a firm hand and tossed it to the girl with a strong arm. She caught it easily. The two seventh years lazily tossed the quaffle, and it made James wonder why they were even there.

"Okay, I'm making the first round of cuts!" Anderson called. Everyone flew over to where he was standing. James tried not to look to arrogant, but he knew he wasn't getting cut yet. Anderson looked at the list in front of him and called out five names before looking up," I'm sorry, but you've been cut. Keep working. Maybe you'll make it on the team next time."

Much to James' dismay, neither the boy nor the seventh years had been cut. But he didn't get to think about it much because Anderson was explaining the next part of tryouts. He listened carefully as he explained that they were splitting into groups of five again and play a quick game. James ended up on the same team as the girl and one of the seventh years, but he was with a third year boy that looked like a first year and a fifth year girl that looked like she could squash them all like bugs.

"You lot better not hog the quaffle." The fifth year girl growled.

James frowned but didn't say anything. Why wouldn't he pass the quaffle? Sure, handling the quaffle was important in being a Chaser, but so was sharing it with the rest of your team. If you didn't pass it, you weren't much of a team player, and that didn't fly well as a Chaser. You could only get away with that as Keeper and Seeker because you didn't have to rely on others in your team.

James' team lost the game. The fifth year girl had hogged the quaffle for a good portion of the game, and she had cost them the game because she was too stubborn. But when James had had the quaffle, he had managed to slip in some expertly executed moves before passing it off to the others on his team. The third year girl did good too, but the seventh year had collided with another player and was carted off to the hospital wing. The third year boy had been so nervous during the game that he had fainted and was actually the one the seventh year collided with.

"Now we'll never get bloody picked." The third year girl muttered when she and James landed.

"If she had just passed the bloody quaffle." James grumbled.

She nodded and turned to Anderson who was now reading off five more names. James didn't hear his name, and apparently the girl's name didn't get called either. But the fifth year girl's name did get called, and she threw a massive fit that she got cut. She grabbed the front of James' robes.

"YOU DIDN'T PASS ME THE QUAFFLE ENOUGH, YOU BLOODY GIT! I TOLD YOU TO PASS THE QUAFFLE!" She screamed in his face. James didn't even flinch.

Anderson and the others who were already on the team pried her off James, pushing her off the pitch. Anderson returned with a huff," Sorry about that. Now, I want the five of you to try and score on Blake. You each get five shots."

First up was the fourth year boy James had punched. He missed four of the five shots and dropped the quaffle twice (James tried not to laugh). Second was the third year girl (James still didn't know her name). She made four of the five. Next was a sixth year boy who was nothing impressive, but he made three of his shots.

James was next. He was a lot more nervous now that he was on the spot. He was never usually nervous about anything, especially about quidditch, but he was in the spotlight at tryouts. This was what was determining if he made it on the team. But he had been watching the Keeper. Blake leaned to the left, but he was strong at defending the right. Since he was already on the left, that was well guarded. Maybe if James went for a trick shot-

One.

James grabbed the quaffle before it could go more than ten feet down and attacked the goals again, this time feinting right and shooting left.

Two.

Nervous sweat was beading on his forehead. He feinted to the left and shot in the middle last second.

Three.

James was starting to feel the pressure now. The Keeper was getting closer to blocking the quaffle. He knew James was going to feint. So if James didn't feint-

Four.

Suddenly, he didn't feel pressured. He'd made all four of his shots already. Unless the last guy made all five, he was most likely going to be on the team. Now that there was no pressure on James, he smirked and decided to show off a little. He did a double feint, confusing Blake and leaving the left hoop wide open.

Five.

"Nice one." The girl smiled when he landed.

"Thanks. You did good too."

"Maybe we can both make the team then."

"Think we'll make it?"

"I think so. That first guy was kind of..."

"Not at all good?"

She raised an eyebrow," Not as good as I would have thought."

"Sorry. I don't really like him."

"Isn't he the guy you punched in the throat last year?"

"Maybe."

She laughed and watch as the last guy missed the first two shots and gave up. He flew to the ground and walked off the pitch without a word. Blake watched him in confusion. Anderson shrugged and scratched his name off the list.

"Alright. Potter. Yates. You're on the team. You made the most shots, you're decent fliers, and you're good on a team." Anderson said.

The first boy got angry and left without saying anything to anyone, though he was swearing up a storm to under his breath. The other boy just shrugged and trudged away, his head hanging.

The rest of the team gathered around the three of them.

"Right then. We're going to have a quick practice to get used to flying all together, yeah? Sort of a get-to-know-you practice." Anderson said.

They all nodded. The rest of the team introduced themselves to the new players. There was Camden Clarke (Beater), Ingrid Fathers (Seeker), Thomas Landon (Beater), Blake Childs (Keeper), and Andrew Anderson (Chaser). James shook hands with them all and Yates (well, Claire, actually) did the same.

"Alright, everyone. In the air. Passing drill, then we'll do some laps." Anderson said cheerily.

Clarke looked at him warily," Which laps?"

"Both." Anderson said happily.

James and Claire looked at each other in confusion.

"Come on, Anderson. We don't need to run. We just need to know how to fly." Ingrid whined.

"Keep that up and we'll go even longer."

No one said anything and just got in the air. An hour later, James could see why Ingrid had complained. Anderson had made them run two laps around the pitch, which was _huge_. By the time they were finished with practice, James was ready to sleep for an eternity. He and Claire trudged up to the castle together and decided to get food because they had worked up a massive appetite.

LILY POV

"There he is!" Lily heard Peter exclaim as she finished her pot pie.

"OI! JAMES!" Sirius shouted.

Lily rolled her eyes and continued to read her Defense Against the Dark Arts book. She _needed_ to finish this homework _today_.

"Did you make it, James?" Remus asked when James sat down. The group of boys was just a few seats away from her and her friends. But _her_ friends were all busy studying. _His_ friends had been planning on how to get their hands on a niffler and set it loose in Filch's office.

"Yeah. Claire and I are the new Chasers on the team." James reported. Lily noted that he sounded more human than usual. He wasn't arrogant about it. And she was sure that it was because he was in shock from making the team. She peeked over and him and realized that it was probably from him being exhausted. He was covered in sweat. His messy black hair was even wet down from it. The girl next to him looked just as tired.

"What happened to you two? It looks like they shoved you in the lake." Sirius said.

"Anderson's crazy, that's what happened." Claire muttered.

Lily smirked. She knew the quidditch captain was crazy. She'd talked to him a few times and overheard him at mealtimes. All he thought about was quidditch. Even last year, he was a major fanatic. Everything he talked about related back to quidditch.

"He made us run the pitch." James added.

"_Run the pitch_? But you're flying, not running. This isn't a muggle sport."

"Yeah, well, Anderson's a little confused, I think." Claire said.

Lily's smirk grew. But then she realized that she was listening to James talk about quidditch tryouts and _not_ reading her book. She shook her head and focused on her book. Or she tried to. Her focus was shot now. She only saw the word _pixies_, and nothing was processing in her head.

She sighed and shut her book," I'm going to the library. See you later?" Lily said to Alice.

Alice nodded. Lily got up and was starting to leave when James stopped her.

"I made the quidditch team, Evans." He said with a smirk.

"Congratulations, James." Lily nodded and tried to leave again, but James put an arm out.

"That's all?"

"What's all?"

"Just 'congratulations, James'?"

"Well, what else is there to say?"

"You tell me."

"You're the one that's fishing for compliments. I'm not a part of your fan club, I'm sorry to inform you. They're over _there_." Lily pointed at Tiny, who was currently glaring at Lily," Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the library to finish reading this chapter so I can do the Defense essay."

"C'mon, Evans. You have all weekend to do homework."

Lily sighed impatiently," And I have a lot of homework to finish. If you'll _excuse me_."

"Alright. Sorry. See you around." James let her pass and turned back to his friends.

Lily hadn't gotten far when she heard Sirius say," You've got it bad, mate."

"I haven't got anything."

"You like Evans. It's obvious."

"I do not."

"Even _I_ noticed it." Peter said.

Lily was out of earshot before anything else could be said. She was out of the Great Hall a few seconds later.

She _seriously_ hoped that he didn't like her. She didn't know if she could handle that. James was barely tolerable as it was. If he had a crush on her, then things would just become ten times worse.

"Hey, Lily." Severus said from a table covered in books. Lily sat down with him.

"What are you working on?" She asked.

"Defense."

"I still need to finish the chapter. I was hoping to do that here."

"Oh, I can tell you about it, if you like. We can work on it together."

That's exactly what they did. They spent the rest of the day working on Defense Against the Dark Arts and Astronomy. At six thirty, they walked down to the Great Hall together. At the doors, they cast sad looks at each other and walked to their respective tables. They had learned quickly that Gryffindors and Slytherins essentially hated each other, and they didn't like that they couldn't sit together. They had a few times in first year, but it always ended in Severus getting cursed and Lily being mercilessly teased by the Slytherins _and_ her horrible dormmates.

When Lily got to the Gryffindor table, she found that none of her friends were around. She used that as an opportunity to get more homework done, and by the time she had finished eating, she'd gotten a good way through her Herbology homework. Her friends had yet to make an appearance, so she decided just to go to the common room and finish her Herbology.

They were all sitting around a table near the back of the common room when Lily arrived. Alice was in tears, and Mary and Marlene were comforting her. Lily hurried over.

"What happened?" Lily asked, sitting down with them.

"That sixth year Malfoy was sending tripping hexes at her all afternoon." Mary said.

"I'm going to hex him next time I see him. Bloody git thinks that just because he's a pureblood, he can do whatever he bloody well pleases." Marlene growled.

"Not to mention he's a prefect too." Mary added.

"Exactly," Alice sniffled," He's a prefect. You can't do anything. He'll put you in detention if you try anything."

"Not if he doesn't catch me." Marlene crossed her arms stubbornly.

"She's right, Mare. Don't risk it. You'll just get in trouble. Malfoy isn't worth it." Lily said in a calm voice.

"Malfoy may not be worth it, but Alice is."

At that, Alice gave her a watery smile," I appreciate that, but I'm really not. McGonagall will probably make you clean the trophy room or something."

"So be it."

"Mare, come on. We can figure out some way to get back at him." Lily said.

"Planning revenge without us?" James Potter and his friends sat down around the girls. Franks sat down next to Alice, looking at her in concern.

"What's wrong, Alice?" He asked.

Alice explained what happened to her, and Frank had the same reaction Lily did. He was upset but rational about the entire situation. He patted her shoulder and said not to let it get to her because everything would work out.

"Some Slytherin's picking on you for no reason?" Peter squeaked.

"We'll fix that." Sirius stood up.

"No! You'll just get yourselves into trouble." Mary said nervously.

"We'll be fine. We'll be careful. Don't worry about us." James waved her off and looked over at Sirius," I have an idea."

"Yeah?"

"We're going to need some dung bombs, cockroach clusters, and a _lot_ of ink."

"Potter, you're going to get everyone in trouble." Lily scowled.

"Relax, Evans. You don't have to do anything. Besides, we won't even tell you what we're planning so you can say that you didn't know what we were doing if McGonagall asks you what happened."

"I already know enough to turn you in."

"You wouldn't turn in your friend."

"Are you my friend?"

"Aren't I?" James smirked and raised an eyebrow.


	3. Chapter 3

JAMES POV

James was sitting next to Claire in the changing rooms for the Gryffindor quidditch team. They were a few minutes away from their first game, and as much as James refused to admit it, he was nervous. But only a little bit. And he felt a fair bit nauseous, but he must have eaten some undercooked bacon. You could get sick if meat wasn't cooked properly. Yeah. That was it.

"Okay, team. Gather round." Anderson called, standing in front of a chalkboard.

The six remaining players got to their feet and stood in a loose half circle around the captain.

"Slytherin has nothing on us. We've been training harder than any of the other teams. Especially harder than the Slytherins. They barely ever practice. Anyway, we don't have anything to worry about. We have an unbeatable seeker, the best keeper in the school, two strong beaters, and two _unbelievable_ chasers."

Claire looked at James nervously while James narrowed his eyes," Which two?"

"You two, of course."

"You're forgetting yourself again, Andrew." Ingrid said.

"I just yell a lot. I'm not that great." He shrugged.

"You whip us into shape." Blake said.

"And you're a better chaser than both of us, right Claire?" James said.

"Brilliant, really. We wouldn't have a chance without you."Claire nodded.

"Flattery won't get anyone anywhere." Anderson said.

"Yeah, well, if flattery happens to be the same as the truth, you have to deal with it, because it's true." Ingrid huffed.

"Okay fine. I suppose I'm okay. But that doesn't matter. The point is, we have the _best_ team in the school. We're in top shape-"

"Only because you exercise on in the air _and_ on the ground. I shouldn't have to hurt every time I breathe." Camden complained.

"_But we're in top shape_. And that will give us an advantage. So let's go out there and put our practices to the test. Let's go out there and _beat those Slytherins_. Ready?"

Everyone gave non-committed nods, making Anderson frowned," I'm sorry. I said _are we ready?_"

"Yes!" The team said loudly.

"Good. Let's go."

Claire and James stayed together as they grabbed their brooms and hurried onto the pitch with the rest of the team. As soon as James saw the crowd and heard just how _loud_ they sounded, his stomach twisted uncomfortably. Were there really _that_ many people in the school? _And were those his parents?_

"Oh Merlin." Claire whimpered next to him.

He steeled his nerves, took a deep breath, and looked at her," We can do this. We can do this, Claire. It's just a game of quidditch. That's all."

She looked at him nervously.

"Just a game of quidditch. We can do this no problem. It'll be just like practice, only with people watching. Yeah?" He nudged her arm.

"R-Right..."

"Just pretend we're playing with Sirius, Remus, and Peter."

"They're terrible at quidditch."

"Sirius isn't that bad."

"No, but the others are dreadful."

James nodded in reluctant agreement," Yeah, but we _are_ playing Slytherin."

Claire laughed," Alright then. Just pretend we're playing your friends. I think I can handle that."

"Brooms ready!" Madam Hooch, the relatively young which who oversaw all flying lessons and quidditch games, called.

Claire and James threw their legs over their brooms and got ready to take off.

"On my mark, then. Three. Two." She blew the whistle and flicked her wand at the same time. The bludgers shot off into obscure corners of the pitch, closely followed by the beaters. The snitch disappeared before James could even see a flash of gold. The quaffle was thrown into the air, and the biggest Slytherin (Hepburn? Something like that) grabbed it. Anderson was right on his tail. James marked a different chaser that was probably four times his size (James _swore_ he had some giant in him). Claire was on the other chaser, who looked to be maybe an inch smaller than the one James was marking.

"Captain Rhodes of Slytherin starts off with the quaffle, closely followed by Captain Anderson." Ben Davies, a sixth year Ravenclaw announced.

_Oh, his name is Rhodes. Where did Hepburn come from?_ James thought. He didn't spend much time thinking about it because Rhodes went to pass the quaffle. James shot forward and grabbed it out of the air before the gorilla he was guarding could even lift his hand off his broom.

"Oh, and second year Gryffindor Chaser Potter intercepted the quaffle. He's turning around and heading up the pitch. Potter passes to Anderson- passes to Yates- _ouch, that has to hurt_."

The quaffle curled into the tips of James' fingers. Claire had managed to pass the quaffle to James right before a quaffle smashed into her shoulder. She cried out and held her shoulder. Anderson called for a time out and shot to the ground. The rest of the team was right behind him.

"I'm alright. It'll pop back into place. I'll be fine." Claire insisted.

"Here. I dislocate my shoulder all the time. I know a couple tricks." Blake stepped forward," Just a warning, this is going to hurt worse than when it happened."

"Fine."

Blake hesitated before grabbing her bicep and shoulder. James didn't see exactly what happened, but he heard Claire swear surprisingly loud. A second later, she breathed in relief and looked at the Keeper," Thanks."

"No problem. Healer Palms got tired of seeing me in the hospital wing because of my shoulder, so he taught me that. It'll last for about an hour, then you'll get sore again." Blake explained.

"Right. So let's finish before that happens. Ingrid, _find the snitch_." Anderson said.

Ingrid rolled her eyes and crossed her arms," What d'you think I'm doing up there? Having a sleepover with some Hufflepuffs?"

Anderson scowled," Watch it, Fathers. I'm your captain."

"You're also painfully oblivious."

"What?"

"Nothing. Come on. Time out's over."

"Right. Lions on three. One, two, three, _Lions_!"

The Gryffindor team got back in the air. James got the quaffle and started back down the pitch, sending it back to Claire. She dodged three bludgers and scored for them in a matter of seconds. James sent her a thumbs up. Anderson just shouted for them to get the quaffle.

Claire avoided further injury in the twenty minutes the game continued. It ended when the Slytherin seeker spotted the snitch and Ingrid snatched it from under his nose. The game ended with 230-10 Gryffindor. Claire and James had each scored two goals while Anderson scored four.

When Ingrid caught the snitch, Anderson stopped in midair to look at her. He stopped at precisely the wrong moment too, making him the only other player to sustain an injury that was more than a bruise. He was hit square in the jaw with a bludger and toppled to the for him, Professor Dumbledore had attended the game. James heard the headmaster shout a charm across the pitch, and Anderson visibly slowed before he hit the ground with a dull _thud_.

James and the rest of the team shot to the ground to make sure he was okay. Ingrid was the one that knelt down next to him to make sure he was alive.

"Andrew? Are you okay? Please be okay." She said anxiously.

James fought a laugh when he saw Anderson's eyes slowly drag open and a bloody half grin pulled on his slightly mutilated face. He tried to say something, but he choked on the blood and accidentally spat it on Ingrid's face (James actually laughed at that).

"That's disgusting, Anderson." Ingrid growled, wiping her face.

"Come on, mate. To the hospital wing with you." Camden pulled him to his feet. Thomas got on Anderson's other side and helped them up to the castle.

"You'd better go with." James told Claire.

"I'm fine."

"Do you really think Childs is the best at fixing up shoulders? Best see Healer Palms about it. Just so you can practice."

Claire frowned and started arguing. James went along with it, but he started walking towards the castle. She followed without a second thought. Before she realized what was happening, she was in the hospital wing. James smirked as she growled and threw herself down on a bed.

LILY POV

Lily walked down to one of the unused dungeons. She had been coming to this dungeon for the past year just so she could see Severus without having to study or be bullied by other students.

"I don't know why you're sorry. I don't even like quidditch."

"I know. I just feel bad that your house lost and mine won."

Snape shrugged and looked away," I still think you should have been a Slytherin. Now you're stuck in a house full of arrogant gits."

"They're not that bad, Sev."

Severus whipped around, black eyes filled with fury," Have you _met_ Potter and Black? They are the worst people in the whole _school_."

"They're not that bad. They just enjoy a laugh."

"They hex me in the hallways for no reason. They're always making fun of my hair and my clothes. Everything I do they mock."

Lily frowned," I know Potter and Black don't always think things through but-"

"They _never_ think things through. I don't think they even have brains. I'm surprised they haven't been thrown out of school yet. Especially with how many detentions they get."

"They _are_ in detention quite a bit..."

"They _always_ in detention, Lily."

"Not _always_. If they were, I'm sure James wouldn't have been allowed on the quidditch team."

"Oh come off it, Lily. Potter is the golden boy to the professors. All of them love him. They only give him detention to make it seem more fair to the rest of us."

"Sev, that's not fair. If _anyone_ did half the stuff Potter's done, they would have detention too."

"Exactly. _Half_ the stuff. Potter doesn't get into nearly as much trouble as he should."

"He wasn't the only one that did all of that stuff. There were others. Besides, we don't know if he was the one that actually did them." Lily knew he knew she was lying. Everyone knew that Potter and his friends had done all those things. Everything from the exploding cauldrons to the dung bombs to the random tap-dancing Slytherins in the corridors and Great Hall.

"Come off it, Lily. Everyone knows he did it. Why are you defending him?

"I don't know why you hate him so much, Sev."

"_He hexes me every day._"

Lily bit her lip. That was true. And Severus almost never did anything to him. Lily sighed," Okay. You're right. I'm sorry."

Severus let out an aggravated sigh," I just don't know why you're friends with him."

"I'm not friends with him. I tolerate him. I have to. We're in the same house. We're in all the same classes. I have to deal with him every. If I didn't tolerate him, life would be terrible, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess." Severus muttered.

Lily offered him a half smile," It's not like he'd replace you, Sev. You're my best mate. You're always going to be my best mate."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Severus allowed a small smile on his sickly pale face.

They stayed in the dungeon and talked for a bit before Severus started complaining about James Potter again. Lily got fed up with it quickly and stood up," I should probably get back to my common room. I'm sure Gryffindor is celebrating the win."

Severus frowned," You're going?"

"They'll notice if I'm gone too long."

"No they won't. Everyone's probably running around like idiots up there."

Lily felt her face heating up in mild anger," Well, what about you? Your mates in Slytherin will notice if you're not there any time soon."

Severus narrowed his eyes," Fine. Go then. I'll see you around, Lily."

He grabbed his discarded cloak and scarf and stormed from the dungeon. Lily threw her hands in the air, grabbed her cloak, scarf, and mittens, and hurried up to Gryffindor Tower.

"Where have you been? Why aren't you celebrating Gryffindor's win with everyone else?" The Fat Lady asked when Lily approached her.

"I was at the library. I wanted to get some reading done before I was trapped in all the noise." Lily lied smoothly.

"Fair enough. Password?"

"Audentia."

"Have fun."

The portrait swung forward, and Lily climbed through the portrait hole. Her ears were full of shouts and cheers. Her fellow Gryffindors were still celebrating, and the game had ended a good hour and a half ago.

Lily quickly found her friends.

"Where've you _been_? We've been worried _sick_." Mary chastised.

"Nowhere. Don't worry about it. Now, tell me. How many times have the team crowd surfed?"

JAMES POV

"Hold him still, Pete."

"He's _really_ strong."

"Do as the man says and _hold him still_."

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

"Don't let him go, Pete!"

"I c-can't hold on."

"For Merlin's sake, Peter, hold onto him. We're almost there."

"LET ME GO, YOU LUNATICS."

The four boys finally burst into their dormitory. James, Peter, and Sirius were holding Remus (who was tied up, thanks to a handy spell Remus himself had found). The three boys dumped the latter on his bed and quickly held him down.

"This is ridiculous." James complained. He let go of Remus and took out his wand," _Petrificus totalus_."

Remus went rigid. He glared murderously at James. Sirius and Peter let go of him and took a step back.

"Pete, go make sure the door's shut, yeah? And make sure no one can hear us." Sirius requested.

Peter locked the door and mumbled," _Muffliato_."

"Good. Now for the reason we've gathered here today." James turned back to Remus, who was still glaring at James.

"Sounds like we're at a wedding." Sirius muttered.

"Oh, haven't I told you? This is your wedding. Remus here is about to become your wife. Ready to kiss the bride?" James shot at him.

"Of course! You know how happy this young lad makes me." Sirius grinned at Remus.

"But really, we're here for a serious reason."

"No, we're here for a Remus reason."

"_Sirius_."

"Sorry. Couldn't help it."

"Anyway, we're here because we know, Remus."

Remus was no longer glaring. Instead, his eyes were wiped blank. The kind of blank that scared everyone. The one that showed that they just gave up.

"And we wanted to tell you that we don't care." Sirius added.

Remus didn't react. The binding spell should have worn off by now, so James knew he could talk.

"Remus? You going to say something, mate?" James prodded his foot.

"How did you...?" Remus whispered.

"Mate, you leave every month like clock work. Always on the full moon. We figured it out a few weeks ago in astronomy class. How knew that would come in handy so soon?" Sirius explained.

"But...how can you not care? I'm a monster."

"Just because you're a werewolf doesn't mean you're a monster. It just means you...have a furry little problem. That's all. If anything, it makes you even cooler than before."

"Trust me, it's not cool. It's painful. And I _have_ killed before, you know. Not on purpose. I can't control myself when I turn. I just black out from the pain and wake up in the morning."

"Well, yeah, I guess that part's a little..." Sirius allowed.

"And I'm shut up in the Shrieking Shack so I can only break the furniture and hurt myself." Remus added.

"Did you say the Shrieking Shack?" James asked, a little too interested in the matter.

"Yes." Remus said slowly.

"How do you get in there? It's all boarded up."

"I'm not telling you. You'll try and sneak in when I'm changing, and I can't let that happen."

"Come on, Remus. We won't even go during your furry little problem. We'll go...we'll go tomorrow. You've already had your time of the month, yeah?"

"I suppose..."

"So tomorrow then? Should I bring the cloak?"

"Maybe..."

"Alright then. That's settled. What d'you say we all go back to the party?"

"I'd love to, James, but these three _gits_ ruddy _tied me up_." Remus growled.

"No problem, mate. _Diffindo_." Sirius cut the ropes off Remus, only giving him a small cut on his arm when Peter tripped on his own robes and distracted him.

"Next time, _you_ cut the ropes. Or better yet, next time, _don't tie me up and talk to me like normal people_." Remus said to James.

"But if we just tried to talk to you about it, you would have denied it. We figured you would be more likely to tell us the truth if you were tied up and all alone with us."

"You really don't mind this, do you? You don't mind that I'm...a monster?"

"Remus, you wear slippers and a house robe around the dormitory on weekends. If that's not the picture of a domestic man, I dunno what is. I don't think you can be domestic and a monster. It's one of the other."

"Maybe he's part time monster, and his job is to get rid of all the dark wizards in the world, starting with Voldemort." Sirius said.

"That's it, then. We're starting your training bright and early Monday morning." James told Remus.

"You don't even wake up early enough to get breakfast during the week. How in the name of Merlin are you going to get up and make me 'train' on Monday morning?"

"We'll make sure you're in class. I'm sure that'll be enough training for now."

Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius," I'm going back to the party. But- can you do something for me?"

"Sure, mate."

"Can you...can this stay between us? My...condition? Only the teachers know about it. I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for Dumbledore. He's such a good guy. Gave me a chance when I doubt any _other_ headmaster would."

"Oh, no problem. This isn't ours to talk about. It's your secret. We're just in on it." James nodded. Sirius did the same and was quickly followed by Peter.

"Thank you." Remus breathed in relief.

"So that party?" James reminded everyone.

They hurried back down to the dormitory. A bunch of people applauded when James appeared. They patted him on the back and complimented his skills as a Chaser. He had just gone to get some pumpkin juice when he saw the portrait hole open and Lily climb through.

James frowned. _Where had she been? The match ended two hours ago_.

He watched as Lily found her friends and went to join them as if she'd only left to get a pasty or something.

Suddenly not wanting to party, James snuck up to his dorm, grabbed out his dad's old invisibility cloak, and made his way out of Gryffindor Tower. Maybe some time by the lake would sort out his mind...

LUCIUS POV

Lucius pulled his hood further down over his face. He could not let anyone see him. He walked his head held high, though he couldn't see with the hood so low over his eyes. It took him twice as long as it usually would to walk to Hogsmeade and into the Three Broomsticks. Slowly, he walked upstairs to the last private room and shut the door.

"Took you long enough, Lucius."

Lucius lowered his hood and looked at the three people in front of him. The woman closest to him looked down on his despite him being much taller.

"I had to be sure I wasn't seen, Bellatrix." Lucius snapped.

"Is that any way to speak to your future sister-in-law?"

"I will speak to you however I see fit."

"I'll be sure Father hears that you said that. He might not want his precious daughter marrying the likes of you."

"Cygnus won't complain about Narcissa marrying me after that sister of yours marrying that mudblood filth last year."

"She is no sister of mine." Bellatrix raised her chin proudly.

"I should hope not."

"We should get to the matter at hand." One of the men said.

"Of course." Bellatrix gestured for them all to sit. She sat down on the couch with the man that spoke. The other man didn't move from his spot against the wall, but Lucius sat down in the winged armchair.

"You know why we're here, Lucius." The first man said.

"Yes."

"The Dark Lord has two tasks for you."

"Two?"

"Is that a problem, Lucius?" Bellatrix asked sweetly.

"No. What are the tasks?" Lucius said in a cold voice.

"First, you're to find students to recruit." The man said.

Lucius nodded," Simple. What's the other?"

At this, the man grinned," The Dark Lord has ordered for you to kill another student."

"K-kill another student?" Lucius stuttered.

The second man pushed away from the wall with a nasty grin," It's easy enough. Just one simple spell, Lucius. All you have to do is make sure no one sees you or you'll be useless to the Dark Lord."

"I can handle it, Rabastan."

"Are you sure? Murder is no small feat. And your first is always the hardest."

"Is that so? Maybe if I get my first over with before I kill another student, things will go much easier."

"Now, now, Lucius. It wouldn't sit well with the Dark Lord if you killed one of his right hand men, now, would it?" The first man sneered.

"I hardly believe _you_ are his right hand man, Rodolphus."

And Rodolphus stood up and walked over to Lucius, joining his brother in standing over the schoolboy," You don't know _what_ to believe, Malfoy. Complete the tasks by the end of the year, and the Dark Lord will _consider_ taking you in."

Lucius slowly got to his feet. He was the same height as Rodolphus and slightly taller than Rabastan. He looked at both of them with cold, hard grey eyes," I have work to do. If you'll excuse me."

"Don't try so hard you die, Malfoy. We've got the numbers, but I don't think it would do our cause well if you were to die, Malfoy."

Lucius stared at them for a few moments before saying in a calm, quiet voice," Don't worry about me, Rodolphus. I know how to take care of myself."

"I should hope so."

There were a few seconds of tense silence before Lucius calmly walked towards the door. Just as he reached it, he stopped and turned his head to the right, eyes on the floor," And I'll give Narcissa your best, Bella."

"Please. I _do_ miss my dear sweet sister." Bellatrix drawled. Lucius couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not and decided it was best not to think about it too much.

He put his hood over his head again and left the Three Broomsticks. It was more crowded than before, and Lucius was glad. Now he was less likely to be noticed now. Outside, he had to walk slow again. Walking with a high, proud chin was _not_ an easy task, and it didn't help that the sun was already setting. By the time he reached the castle, nothing but shadows could be seen on the grounds. He was almost to the front doors when he noticed a darker shadow moving near the lake. His curiosity got the better of him, and he walked a little closer.

Lucius hid behind a large tree and looked at the figure. He vaguely recognized him as a Hufflepuff seventh year. An idiot, if you asked Lucius. The Hufflepuff boy never made much of an impression, and it wasn't like Lucius expected much from Hufflepuffs to begin with. This particular boy was more more dimwitted that most others.

_What is he doing out here so late?_ Lucius wondered. And then he realized that he didn't care. Not only did he not care, but this was the perfect opportunity.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Lucius pulled out his wand and pointed it at the Hufflepuff. The Hufflepuff wasn't doing anything but walking back and forth on the shore of the lake. After a few long moments of just watching the boy, Lucius stepped out of his hiding place and held out his wand. The boy stopped and looked at Lucius in shock.

"Er- hello? What are- what are you doing out here?" The boy asked.

Lucius strolled a little closer to the boy without saying anything.

"And why...why are you pointing your wand at me?"

Lucius raised a pale blonde eyebrow and rose his chin a little higher before saying in as steady a voice as possible," _Avada kedavra_."

There was a flash of green light, a muffled thump, and a splash of water. The Hufflepuff was dead, his head and chest in the water and the rest of his body on the damp shore. Lucius stepped closer and looked at the body. The boy's face was frozen in shock and fear, but there was no life left in them.

He didn't move the body. Instead, he stared at it for a few moments before his lip curled up in a nasty sneer. He wasn't sorry that he'd killed this boy. In fact, he was quite proud. That boy had been a menace. Nothing good ever came from him. He only took up space. Besides, he was a mudblood. No good ever came from mudbloods _or_ Hufflepuffs, and he happened to be both.

Lucius allowed himself the satisfaction of kicking a bit of sand on the boy's body before turning and striding up to the castle. He didn't look back once as he walked, and he didn't feel a bit of guilt or pity when he climbed into bed just two hours later.


	4. Chapter 4

LILY POV

Everyone in the school was sitting in the Great Hall. No one was making a sound. Not even the Marauders, and you could _always_ count on them to be making noise of some kind. But today, they were just as silent and calm as everyone else. In fact, James Potter looked more upset than anyone else in that group.

Professor Dumbledore was standing at the center of the staff table like he did during the start of term feast. Everyone was looking at him in sad silence. It was the kind of silence Lily suffocated in. Or maybe that was the tears building in her eyes and the constriction in her throat. It was just so hard to _breathe_.

"Demetrius Steinbach was an excellent student and a wonderful friend. He was an extraordinary example of Hufflepuff House, and he was an extraordinary model for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is a shame that his life was ended so soon. Demetrius had been working towards becoming a Healer at St. Mungo's Hospital. It is unfortunate that he never had the chance to reach his goal. We can only hope that no more devastation comes to his family. As for how he died..."

Lily noticed James straighten up a little at this.

"We have found that it was a killing curse. I warn everyone here: the Unforgivable Curses are _not_ silly charms for harmless pranks. They are dangerous weapons, and they do more harm than anyone can imagine. And so, I would like to stress how very important it is for everyone to take great caution. As with any curse, spell, charm, or jinx, its producer is not always easy to see. Anyone can cast these curses. This is no light matter, and the death of Demetrius Steinback should not be overlooked or forgotten. This should stand as a warning to each and every one of you for what is yet to come. Dark times are looming before us, and it would do us all well to remember who the real enemy is. Remember, we are all one and the same. We need to unite as one school, one community, and stand together. Forget differences as silly as houses and blood. If we are divided, we are weak. Only together can we overcome the dangers we impose on each other."

There was a heavy silence. Lily couldn't tell if it was from sorrow or worry or just the sheer message of the headmaster's words. She looked away from Dumbledore and down at the table in front of her. _Who would kill a student? And on school grounds..._

"I think it best that everyone go to bed now. Think about this, and learn from it." Dumbledore finished.

Everyone slowly stood and made their way towards the door. Lily got up and pulled Alice into a hug. Alice was crying harder than anyone else in her group. Mary had silent tears dripping down her cheeks every once in a while, and Marlene just looked tired and miserable. A few feet away, James was whispering furiously to his friends.

"It's okay, Alice." Lily whispered.

"Who would do that?" She whimpered.

"I don't know, but he didn't deserve it."

"His killer's still walking around. What if they go after someone else? What if they go after one of us?"

"They're not going to come after us, Alice."

"How do you know?"

"We're always around people, aren't we? There's no way anyone would be able to kill us with so many people around. We're safe, Alice."

"But what if-"

"Don't worry, Alice. They won't come after us." Frank said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm so scared, Frank." Alice turned and hugged Frank. He was shocked at the sudden contact, but he managed to awkwardly pat her back and mutter to her. Lily turned away from them and wiped her eyes.

"Cheer up, Lily. At least it wasn't one of us, yeah?" Marlene nudged Lily's arm as they started walking to the dormitories.

"You know that Demetrius was a muggleborn. And he...he was probably killed _because_ he's a muggleborn. What if..." Lily trailed off and glanced at Alice for half a second before leaning closer to Marlene," What if whoever did it comes after all the muggleborns?"

Marlene sighed and shook her head," You're as bad as Alice. Honestly, do you think someone would bother trying to off a bunch of second years? Makes no sense, does it, Lily?"

"Well, they could want to get rid of the muggleborns now so they don't have to deal with us later."

Marlene just scowled," Really, Lily? You think they'd be smart enough to think of that?"

"Well, they were smart enough to do it without any witnesses, yeah? Who's to say they haven't thought that far ahead?"

James Potter jumped in at this point," They were also dumb enough to kill someone, so why _would_ they think that far ahead? Plus, if they only go after muggleborns, someone- probably Dumbledore- is bound to notice and will add special protection to people in the targeted group."

Lily frowned," Well, if they were smart about anything, they wouldn't make it obvious."

Sirius sucked in a breath and slapped his hand hard over Lily's mouth," _Shhh_! The killer's still walking around, yeah? We don't know who it is, and so they could be anyone. We don't want them to get any ideas just because _we're_ talking about what they could and couldn't do to be smart about their targets."

Lily shoved his hand away and glared at him," Don't ever put your hand in my face again. You smell like month old sausage and taste even worse."

"_That's_ what you're worried about? My scent and taste? We've got a killer on the loose!" Sirius said dramatically.

"Yes, I know. And we've also got four _idiots_ on the loose. What are you planning now? Prank the killer? Or maybe just capture him and get all the glory."

Peter went pale. Remus missed a step and remained silent. Sirius sighed and shook his head, but it was James that spoke.

"We don't want anything to do with this person. They're dangerous, yeah? It's like Marlene said. We're only second years. We may be wicked talented, but they're probably much older and much more experienced. We weren't planning on doing anything."

Peter, quivering and pale, stepped forward with a little frown," I thought we were-"

Remus shoved his elbow into Peter's ribs.

"_Ow_! What was that for?"

"We're not going after them, remember?" Remus said slowly.

"Wha- oh. Oh right."

Lily rolled her eyes," You four aren't going to live to see third year if you go after whoever did this."

At this, Sirius grinned mischievously," You underestimate us, Evans."

"No. I don't think I do. You're so eager for all that attention that you'll do anything to get it. Even if it means going after a ruthless murderer."

"You don't know that they're ruthless."

"But we're not doing it for attention. Someone shouldn't be parading around killing people. We've got a plan to draw them out and expose them for who they are." James explained.

"And if you _happen_ to gain a few more mindless girls for your fan club, even better." Lily retorted.

"I don't see why that's a bad thing. People want to be our friends. Who wouldn't?"

"You're unbelievable."

"Come on, Evans. We're not doing anything _really_ dangerous."

"Just going after a murderer."

"Are you worried about us?"

"I don't know. I don't really know what I'm feeling right now. It's kind of a big shock what with a student turning up dead. Maybe I'm just tired."

"You're blaming being worried about us on being tired?" Remus asked.

"Yes. Good night."

And Lily walked upstairs with her friends.

JAMES POV

As soon as Lily and the girls went upstairs, James and his friends ran up to their room. Frank had been busy talking to a prefect, so they knew they had about ten minutes to talk before Frank would walk in.

"I think we need to be a little more blear next time we make a plan that we _can't tell anyone_." Sirius said, looking at Peter with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sorry! I forgot that we were keeping it quiet." Peter blubbered.

"How did you forget something like _that_? Especially when James and I were telling Evans that we weren't going after them?"

"Because-"

"It doesn't matter. What's done is done." Remus said.

"Yeah. That's right. It doesn't matter." James nodded," Sirius, stop giving Peter a hard time. Pete, it's okay. But don't mention anything unless you _know_ it's okay to talk about it, yeah? Just easier to keep things quiet that way."

"Sorry." Peter's watery blue eyes were _really_ turning watery. He sniffled and wiped under his nose.

"It's okay, Pete. No harm done. Only the girls know, and I don't think they're going to try and stop us. They don't want to get in trouble in case we get caught."

"Can we...can we go over it one more time? I'm still confused." Peter suddenly looked much smaller.

James gave him a kind smile and nodded," 'Course we can. So tonight, after Frank's gone to sleep, we're going to get under the cloak and slip out of the tower. We decided to go down to the dungeons and wait for a Slytherin to appear, right?"

Sirius nodded," One of those little snakes probably did it. I reckon they're all angry since we beat them in quidditch. Someone probably just took it out on that Hufflepuff bloke."

"And it'll probably be someone older. A sixth or seventh year. No one younger than that would really know about Unforgivable curses unless they were Dark Wizards. So that's who we're on the look out for."

"What if we find them?" Peter asked.

"This is just a recon mission. If we find out who did it, then we'll figure out a plan from there, but I think we should just take turns watching out for whoever it is we catch." James answered quickly.

Just as he finished talking, the door opened, and Frank walked in.

"Can't believe what just happened. Who would kill him? He's was a nice guy, right?" Frank said.

The other four boys just shrugged.

"Dunno, mate. Never spoke to him. Kind of blended into the walls, if you ask me." Sirius said.

LILY POV

She watched the boys the next day, but they were just planning another prank to make Mr. Filch's life harder.

"Why are you watching them?" Mary asked.

"D'you like one of them? Is it James?" Marlene asked with a little too much excitement.

Lily scrunched up her nose," Ew. No. It's just...weren't they planning on doing something to find...you know."

"Oh. Yeah, but they might have gone through with it." Marlene shrugged.

"How? They just started planning it last night."

"Yeah but it's the Marauders. They've probably already come up with a plan and gone through with it without anyway even knowing what happened."

"I dunno, Lily. They can be pretty sneaky. No one ever caught them for the laugh attack on the Ravenclaws last year."

"Or the flying incident last year that banned first years from having brooms anymore." Mary added.

"I still don't know how they managed to convince every Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw first year to fly straight at each other ten feet in the air." Lily frowned.

"Pure talent, Evans. People love us. They'll do anything we ask." James grinned, sitting down next to Lily.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes," Thank you for that. You can leave now."

"No can do, Evans. Four growing boys need to eat."

"So eat somewhere else."

"But this is my favorite spot."

"Make _that_ your favorite spot."

"There? No way. Lance always sits over there, and I think he only bathes on the full moon."

"That's not very nice, Potter."

"But it's true."

"It's still mean."

"The truth can hurt. For example, it pains me to say that you have crumbs on the corner of your mouth."

Lily spun her head away from James and wiped her mouth. James and his friends laughed. When Lily realized that there wasn't anything on her face, she felt her cheeks grow warm in anger. She turned and glared at James for a few seconds, stood up, smacked the back of James' head, and marched out of the Great Hall. Her friends joined her in class a few minutes later.

"Well, that was dramatic." Alice said.

"James was so _smug_ down there. They _must_ have gone through with their plan already."

"Probably." Marlene shrugged and pulled out her book.

"But what could they have done? They're second years. _Barely_." Mary said.

"Oh trust me, they would have found something to do." Lily said in a low voice. The Slytherins were starting to walk in.

"But it's impossible to find a murderer in a night, especially if they're just a bunch of twelve year olds." Mary whispered.

"But they probably have a bunch of different phases. I bet they were just sitting outside a door or something." Lily rolled her eyes, now calm.

"Doesn't really seem like something they'd do."

"That's the point though. They wouldn't do something that _would_ seem like something they'd do. Where would their fun be if everyone knew what they were up to?"

Marlene leaned a little closer as the boys in question paraded in the room with shouts of laughter," Besides, wouldn't want McGonagall to catch them out after hours. Remember Sanders last week? Out of bed after hours to get a ruddy snack from the kitchens and got caught."

Lily nodded," Took fifty points from Gryffindor. Potter wouldn't risk losing fifty points _each_. He's too competitive. Wants to win the house cup too much to lose that many points at once."

The girls nodded to each other as class started.

JAMES POV

"It's been three weeks, James. I don't think it was a Slytherin." Remus sighed.

"It _is_. I know it is. It couldn't have been anyone else."

"Why not? A ravenclaw is just as likely to look up dark spells as a Slytherin."

"Look up, yes. _Use_, no."

"James, this is ridiculous. No student did this."

"Yes they did, Remus. I _know_ they did."

"How do you know?"

"Because no one else would."

Remus sighed in defeat," I have a transfiguration essay to write. And so do you."

"Fine. I'll start it in an hour. I just want to stay here for a bit longer."

"I need to start on it _now_."

"Then go. Take the cloak. I'll stay here a little longer and watch for-"

"If anyone comes, they'll curse you for being _near_ the common room, not to mention you'll get loads of points taken from Gryffindor."

"So I'll hide behind a tapestry."

"You _really_ think they're thick enough _not_ to see a giant lump behind a thin tapestry?"

"It's not that thin."

"James."

"Fine. Let's go."

Not at all happy at the turn of events, James straightened up to walk back to Gryffindor Tower when the door to the Slytherin common room slid open. Remus and James flattened themselves against the wall as Lucius Malfoy peaked around, slid into the corridor, and quickly made his way through the dungeons. Remus and James glanced at each other and followed him through the castle.

Lucius led them up to the now abandoned library. For a moment, James thought Malfoy was just going to knick a book and be on his way, but then he heard other voices. Malfoy had placed himself just outside the Restricted Section, and the voices were getting closer. In just a few seconds, the half of the sixth and seventh year Slytherins were in the library.

"What are we doing here, Malfoy?" One voice hissed.

"Yeah. It better be good. I need my sleep. Wouldn't want me to become unpleasant now, would we?" A second sneered.

"You're already unpleasant. No amount of sleep would make you better." A girl said.

"_Quiet_. All of you. I wouldn't have called you here if I didn't think you would be interested in what I have to say." Malfoy drawled.

James and Remus looked at each other in confused worry. James's heart was thumping in his chest harder than ever before.

"Then get on with it, yeah? I want to go to bed. Why'd it have to be so late?" The girl asked.

"And why in the library?" The first voice asked.

"Because no one can overhear us, and no one _will_ this late in the library. That nosy librarian leaves at ten after she makes sure no one is hiding in the stacks." Malfoy hissed at them all," Now shut it before I obliviate you and send you to bed."

There was a deafening silence in the room. The two Gryffindors were holding their breath under the invisibility cloak.

"Now..." Lucius looked at the group of seven people," I assume you all know of what's happening outside the castle at this very moment."

"You talkin' 'bout that dark wizard that's runnin' round and offin' all those muggles and mudbloods?" A new, gruff voice asked.

"Yes, Avery. The Dark Lord. And he has tasked me with recruiting more people to aid him in his quest to purify the wizarding world."

"Purify? You me killing all those people?" A small voice came.

Lucius looked at him slowly," Is that a problem?"

James's heart stopped beating right there. _This was it. This was when he would get his confession_.

"Why would we go around killing people? They didn't do anything."

"They're dragging the title of wizards through the dirt. With muggles around, we have to hide what we are, and with mudbloods around, wizards who _actually_ deserve jobs are getting shoved to a side to make room for them in civilized society. Those mudbloods don't know how to function in the civilized society that is the wizarding world."

Remus was holding onto James's arms by now, and James was silently fighting to get over to the Slytherins. He wanted to tear their limbs from their bodies.

"Muggles are just as civilized as we are. It's not fair to them that you're essentially calling them savages."

Lucius raised an eyebrow," Aren't they? Don't _we_ deserve better than to be shoved to a side while all those mudbloods take our jobs. Don't _we_ deserve to live in an untainted world. A world without mudbloods and muggles?"

The boy took a small step back," Are you...were you the one that killed that Hufflepuff?"

Lucius drew himself up proudly," And if I was?"

"You're a murderer! You should be in Azkaban!"

Quicker than James thought possible, Lucius whipped out his wand and hissed," _Stupify_! _Obliviate_!"

The boy slumped and didn't move. There was a silence that rang through the library. Remus and James were frozen in an awkward fighting position.

"I don't get it, Malfoy. If you offed that Hufflepuff mudblood a few weeks ago, why didn't you just kill Baxter here?" Avery asked.

"Because I have witnesses and because I can't just go around killing people."

"But you did with the Puffer."

"And you just admitted to it." The girl added.

"I killed him because that was a second task the Dark Lord set to me, and I'm not worried about letting you lot know. You'll forget soon enough." Lucius said softly.

"We will, will we?" The girl challenged.

There was another pause, during which James saw the girl freeze and shake her head slightly," What were we just talking about?"

There were several gasps, followed by outraged voices," _Did you just-_"

But they all quieted down quickly as Lucius, silent as ever, shot quick hexes at each other the gathered students. All of them fell silent and stiff as boards. Most of them fell over. Lucius slowly walked from one to another, muttering _obliviate_ under his breath at each person. Then he took off all the charms, and everyone stood up.

"What just happened?" Most muttered in annoyance.

"It seems you all took a nap. Now are you interested in joining forces with the Dark Lord or not?" Lucius asked.

Everyone nodded except for the stupified boy.

Not fifteen minutes later, Remus and James burst into the common room, gasping for air.

"James? Remus? What's going on?" Sirius asked.

"Marauders. Meeting. Now. Upstairs." James panted and sprinted for the staircase. Remus was on his tail.

When James got to their room, Frank was just about to climb into bed. James kicked him out and locked the door behind Peter (who was the last one to come in).

"What happened?" Sirius demanded again.

"It was Malfoy. Malfoy killed that boy a few weeks ago." James said.

Peter gasped and toppled off his bed. Sirius gaped," I knew it!"

Remus nodded," We were about to leave, but then Malfoy left the Slytherin common room and went to the library. And a bunch of sixth and seventh year Slytherins came. He said Voldemort recruited him to get more followers. This one Slytherin said that everything was wrong and that they shouldn't be killing people, so Malfoy admitted he was the one that offed Demetrius."

Remus stopped to take a breath, so James took over," That one Slytherin didn't like it and said that it was messed up. Malfoy knocked him out and erased his memory. Then he used petrificus totalus on everyone and erased their memories about killing Demetrius. And then he recruited _everyone_. They decided on sneaking out to Hogsmeade during the next quidditch match to meet with some Death Eaters."

"Except for the one he stunned. He didn't want anything to do with it. They told him that he fell asleep while they were studying and that someone took his things back to the common room." Remus finished.

Sirius looked pale with fury," I'm going to kill that bloody snake. And all those others that actually agreed to following Voldemort."

James was shaking with anger," So what are we going to do about this?"

There was a knock on the door. Frank's muffled voice came," Can I come in now?"


End file.
